Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a basic income to provide financial assistance to people affected by covid-19.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We have strengthened the safety net for the most vulnerable with over £6.5 billion invested into improving our welfare system for this year. There is no intention to introduce a universal basic income.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the initial personal independence payment assessment in order to mitigate the recourse to appeal.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We monitor all elements of PIP Providers’ performance, including quality of assessments. There is an independent audit function that continually monitors the quality of assessment reports and provides feedback to Providers. Providers are held accountable against a number of performance measures. If the Providers do not meet the agreed standards, financial remedies can apply.
Turning to the decision making process itself, last year we implemented a new approach to handling applications for Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) in PIP which includes contacting claimants, where appropriate, to see if there is information that would enable us to change the decision. To support this, we are investing additional time for communication, evidence gather and review. This approach supports our aim - to make the right decision as early as possible - so claimants don’t need to progress to the appeal stage. Early results have been positive and the same approach has now been adopted in ESA and UC. We continue to engage with stakeholders to explore how we can further improve the effectiveness of the MR process.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to make an announcement on the appropriate delivery mechanism for the universal credit transition fund.
Answered by Will Quince
From April 2020, a new £10 million transitional fund will be available to partner organisations to provide extra help to the most vulnerable, improving access to welfare and labour market opportunities.
Further information on the fund and how organisations can bid to access it will be available shortly.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to complete the process of back paying claimants who were incorrectly moved from severe disability premium on to universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The SDP gateway has been in place for over a year to prevent those claimants entitled to the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) as part of their legacy benefit from claiming Universal Credit. We have successfully identified eligible former SDP claimants who have already moved to Universal Credit due to a change in circumstances, providing them with monthly payments and a lump sum in arrears, where appropriate.
As of 17 January 2020, 15,397 claims have been paid an SDP transitional payment. The average (median) value of the lump sum payments is £2,280. To date, over £51.5m has been disbursed to support former SDP claimants, including the recurring payments that have now commenced.
Positive progress has been made and caseload growth has now slowed, however, in the event a new case is discovered payments will be in place quickly. It is not possible to estimate when we will have paid everyone who is entitled as some people become entitled to these payments retrospectively, and therefore the caseload is not a fixed number.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Inverclyde are eligible for pension credits but do not claim.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The information requested on the number of households in Inverclyde are eligible for pension credits but do not claim is not available at constituency level.
Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) individuals and (b) couples receive pension credits in Inverclyde.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Information on the number of individuals and couples receiving Pension Credit in Inverclyde from most recent data (as of November 2018) is set out below:
Pension Credit recipients in Inverclyde
| November ‘18 |
Individual | 2,742 |
Couple | 438 |
Source: DWP Stat-Xplore
This information is published and available at Stat-Xplore:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she takes to ensure market research conducted for her Department has provision for deaf people to respond.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The DWP uses the Research Marketplace Dynamic Purchasing System to contract its social research. All service providers registered on the System are obliged to operate within the stipulations of all prevailing disability legislation in operation within the UK.
In addition, all social research the Department undertakes complies with the principles laid out in the Government Social Research ‘Ethical Assurance for Social Research in Government’ framework. This includes Principle 3 (Enabling participation), which states that:
‘The potential impact of choices in research design (such as sample design, data collection method and so on) on participation should be considered. In particular, the effect of research design on such groups as ethnic minorities, those with caring responsibilities, and those with physical or mental impairment should be considered. Consideration should be given to issues likely to act as a barrier to participation, and reasonable steps taken to address these.’
Accessibility requirements are therefore considered on a project by project basis in accordance with this Principle.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department had with charities and third sector organisations on ensuring market research on her Department's polices was accessible for people with that disabilities.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
All social research the Department undertakes complies with the principles laid out in the Government Social Research ‘Ethical Assurance for Social Research in Government’ framework. This includes Principle 3 (Enabling participation), which states that:
‘The potential impact of choices in research design (such as sample design, data collection method and so on) on participation should be considered. In particular, the effect of research design on such groups as ethnic minorities, those with caring responsibilities, and those with physical or mental impairment should be considered. Consideration should be given to issues likely to act as a barrier to participation, and reasonable steps taken to address these.’
Accessibility requirements are therefore considered on a project by project basis in accordance with this Principle.
No record has been kept of any specific discussions with charities and third sector organisations on ensuring that research undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions is accessible for people with disabilities.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints her Department received on accessibility of market research and surveys for people with a disability in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a central record of complaints relating to its research programme. Therefore, no data is available.
The DWP endeavours to deal with all complaints swiftly and with due consideration from the relevant researchers, with processes in place for complaints to be handled by contractors and the Department as appropriate.
The DWP uses the Research Marketplace Dynamic Purchasing System to contract its social research. All service providers registered on the System are obliged to operate within the stipulations of all prevailing disability legislation in operation within the UK.